Fish scraper



April 4, 1942. N. K'APLAN 2.279.685

FISH SGRAPER Filed May 6, 1940 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

N. KAPLAN FISH S CRAPER April 14, 1942.

Filed May 6, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

VaZkarz R;

H I I ATTORNEYS.

N. KAPLAN FISH SCRAPER April 14, 1942.

Filed May 6, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 MM]; m

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ATTORNEYS.

N. KAPLAN FISH SCRAPER April 14, 1942.

-F'iled May 6, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 w 0 a a a w Z 6 1/, 3 a a Aw 4.. W 2 w A A a 2km flkplaro IN VEN TOR.

' ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 14, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FISH SCRAPER Nathan Kaplan, Atlanta, Ga.

Application May 6, 1940, Serial No. 333,641 (01. 17-3) 3 Claims.

This invention aims to provide a simple machine for scaling a fish, removing the entrails and trimming off the back fin.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows in ,top plan, a fish cleaning machine constructed in accordance with the invention, parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section;

Figs. 3 and 5 are cross sections taken, respectively, on the lines 33 and 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the guide bar and associated parts;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view disclosing portions of the chute plates and attendant parts.

The device forming the subject matter of this application comprises a support, including a boxlike body I.

For convenience in locating the relative positions of parts, and for describing the operation, the forward end of the body I is marked by the letter A. The rear end of the body I is marked by the letter B. The body I is carried on corner legs 2.

The body I comprises side members 3, a front end member 4' and a rear end member 5. The body I of the machine is open at its bottom, as shown at 6, so that scales and guts can drop out.

At its forward end, the body I is provided with a front top piece I. At its rear end, the body I is provided with a rear top piece 8. The top piece 8 is somewhat wider than the top piece 1. Vertical, parallel partitions 9 extend between the front end member 4 and the rear end member 5, at the top of the machine. Horizontal brace plates Ill extend the full length of the body and connect the lower edges of the partitions 9 with the side members 3. The brace plates [0 strengthen the partitions 9 (which carry some of the working parts), and they give stability to the entire body The front end member 4 has an intake opening II at its top. The opening II is as wide as the distance between the partitions 9, and as high as the distance between the brace plates I0 and the front top piece I. There is a corresponding discharge opening I2 in the rear end member 5 of the body I.

A supporting bar l4 extends lengthwise of the body I, between the front end member 4 and the rear end member 5, and is located in the median plane of the body. An upwardly extended, rearwardly inclined knife I5 is mounted on the bar I4 and is located considerably nearer to the forward end A of the machine than to the rear end B thereof. As the fish is drawn rearwardly, by a means to be described hereinafter, the knife l5 forms a ventral slit in the fish. Near the outlet l2, the bar l4 carries an eviscerator l6, embodying oppositely-disposed, forwardly-inclined parts, converging at their upper ends to a point, as shown in Fig. 5. When the fish is advanced, the eviscerator l6 enters the slit made by the knife 15 and removes the entrails.

As to the means for advancing the fish, a transverse drive shaft I1 is journaled in the side members 3 of the body I, near the bottom of the body. A hand crank I8 is shown, as a means for rotating the drive shaft H, but it might be rotated otherwise. A transverse driven.- shaft IQ is journaled in the side members 3, near the rear end member 5 of the body I,

A pair of sprocket wheels 20 is secured to the drive shaft ll.

bar 14. A pair of sprocket wheels 2| is secured to the driven shaft IS. The sprocket wheels 2| are located close together, on opposite sides of the bar l4. Figure 4 shows, at 22, that the bar I4 is cut away at its ends, to receive the sprocketwheels 2| and the sprocket wheels 20. Each of the sprocket wheels 20 is connected to one of, the sprocket wheels 21 by a sprocket chain 23.. The wider intermediate portion 50 of the bar M. (Fig. 4) upholds the upper runs of the sprocket. chains 23, and keeps them from sagging. Thechains 23 form a fish carrier, and are supplied with vertically extending claws 24. The claws 24, as to the upper runs of the sprocket chains, operate on opposite sides of the knife l5 and have a rearward inclination.

Concavo-convexed chute plates 25 extend lengthwise of the machine, and are located above the upper runs of the sprocket chains 23. At their forward ends, the chute plates 25 are supplied with diverging Wings 26, so that a fish may The sprocket Wheels 2|] are lo-- cated close together, on opposite sides of the be introduced readily between them, through the intake opening II. The chute plates are yieldably mounted in the body I, for in and out movement, toward and away from the median longitudinal plane of the machine, indictaed by the knife l5. With that end in View, the chute plates 25 are supplied with outwardly extended, rigid arms 21, having right line sliding movement in the side members 3 and the partitions 9 of the body I.

Stop collars 28 are held by set screws 29 on the arms 27, for adjustment longitudinally of the arms. Compression springs 30 surround the arms 21, the springs abutting at their outer ends against the side members 3 of the body I and at their inner ends against the stop collars 28-. The stop collars 28 engage the partitions 9, to limit the inward movement of the chute plates 25, under the action of the springs 30, but the-springs 30 can yield, when a fish is introduced between the chute plates, and they will be forced toward the sides of the fish.

The chute plates 25 have openings 3-! in their sides, through which the-detached scales pass. Inwardly-inclined and forwardly-extended scale scrapers 32 are mounted on the innersurfaces of the chute plates 25 and overlap the openings 3|.

An inverted U-shaped bearing bracket 33 is mounted on the rear top piece 8 of the body I. The numeral 34 designates a horizontal knife carrier, located below the top member 8 of the body I, the rear ends of-the chute plates 25being cut away as shown at 35- in Fig. 2, to accommodate the knife carrier. Intermediate its ends, the knife car ier t t-is provided with an upwardly extended, inverted V-shaped saddle knif 36,

disposed ctween the, chute plates 25.. The purpose of the saddle knife is to fit over the back ofa fish and trim off the dorsal fin, as the fish is advanced.

Plungers 3'! are mounted for vertical right line reciprocation, in the bearing bracket 33 and in the top piece 8. The lower ends of the plungers 37 are connected to the knife carrier 34. Steps 38 are attached to the plungers 3'1. Compression springs 33 are disposed about theplungers 3land bear at their upper ends on the top partof the bracket the lower ends of the springs bearing on the, stops 38.. Thestops 3B, cooperating with the rear top piece 8, limit the downward movement of the fin-removing saddle knife 36, and the springs 39 hold the; knife 36 down on the backof the fish.

The fish to be cleaned is inserted into the machine through the intake opening H and is guided. between the chute plates 25,-by the flared wings :26 of the chute plate. The claws 24 on the sprocket chains 23 engagethe fish and advance it between the chute plates 25.. The chute plates 2 5, being yieldably supported by thesprings 353, can embrace the fish closely. The scales are removed by the scale scrapers 32 of Fig. G and pass'outwardly through the openings (-3!- of the chute plates 25. As the fish is advanced between the chute plates by the action; of the chain claws 24,.the knife l5 forms a ventral slit. As the fish is about to pass out from between the, chute plates 25, at the back end of: the niachine;=,the

dorsal fin is cut off by the saddle knifeilii. The.

sprocket chains 33'sh0ve the fish out of the machine, through the opening l2. Asthe fish is being thrust through'the opening l2, the eviscerator IE, operating through the ventral slit formed by the knife l5, removes the entrails, the fish being held down by the saddle knife or fin remover 36.

The machine is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, not likely to get out of order, and capable of consummating the objects set forth in the opening portion of this specification.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A machine for cleaning fish, comprising a support, oppositely-disposed chute members having scale-outlet openings, scale removers cooperating with the chute members and disposed in operative relation to the openings, means for mounting the chute members on the support for yieldable in and out movement, a slitter carried by the support and projecting between the chute members, a dorsal fin remover disposed near the top ofthe chute members and near the rear end thereof, means on the support for advancing the fin remover yieldably toward the chut members, an eviscerator on the support near the rear end of the chute members, in line with the slitter, the fin-remover being located close enough to the eviscerator so that a fish will be held down by the finremover whilst the eviscerator is exercising itsfunction, and a carrier on the support and constituting means for advancing a fish with respect to the chute members, the slitter, the fin remover and the eviscerator.

2. A machine for cleaning fish, comprising a support, a'fish chute on the support, a slitter carried by the support and projectin into the chute, an eviscerator carried by the support and located behind the slitter and in line therewith, a dorsal fin remover disposed near the top of the chute and near the rear end thereof, and means for mounting the fin remover yieldably 0n the support, the fin remover being disposed close enough to the eviscerator to hold down a fish whilst the eviscerator is functioning, and means for advancing a fish with respect to the chute, the slitter, the fin remover, and the eviscerator.

3. In a fish-cleaning machine, a frame having at one end an intake for uncleaned fish and at the opposite end an outlet for cleaned fish, a reinforcing bar extended longitudinally of the machine from the intake to the outlet, and secured to the end portions of the frame, trough-like chute members disposed on oppositesides'of the bar, means for mounting; the; chute members on the frame for yieldably-resisted outward move ment, means :for scalingfish as they are advanced between the chute members, a ventral slitter carried by the barand disposed between the chute members, pairs of sprocket wheels spaced apart longitudinally of the frame, the wheels of each pair being. located on opposite sides of the bar, fish-advancing sprocket-chains carried by the Wheels and having fish-engaging elementsoperatin betweenthe chute members, the bar being terminally-recessed on both' sides, to admit portions of the wheels and to bring them close enough together soathat the upper runs of, the chains are slidably supported on the intermediate, portion of i the bar, and means for. mounting .the wheels onthe frame and for actuating the chains.

NATHAN KAPLAN. 

